By Ndumbe Bell Joseph Gaston in Douala
Fresh hopes have been ignited in the liquidity sector of the Central African trading block (CEMAC) after the injection of a stimulus package of FCFA 205.7 billion issued and channeled to commercial banks by the Bank of Central African States (BEAC) in a unanimous effort to access credit to economic operators engaged in the economic development activities of the block.
In a report also carried by a prominent business magazine among others, while this move is of record significance, the reported amount fell shorter than the amount of FCFA 270 billion initially intended for the credit institutions, making the demand looking far inferior to the supply.
It was equally stated that while the decision of January 7 to inject FCFA 205.7 billion seems to satisfy the current needs of banking institutions, the newly injected dosage is by comparison lower than the FCFA 220 billion allocated in the second package of December 2024 and also found to be a punch under the FCFA 320 billion reported to have been available by the central bank last November 2024, indicating a downward trend that still steers and ignites hopes.
The general increase and availability of liquidity after expressly demanded by commercial banks earlier, is said to have come after more than a year’s suspension before the liquidity resumption in June 2024 of BEAC’s financial stimulus. Other reasons for holding back liquidity access for a while, is blamed for using monetary instruments with an earlier intention to put on hold the 20 percent inflation rate that was then looming in the CEMAC marketplace, such as was the case in the first quarter of 2023.